Ongoing anti-corruption campaign gained a boost on Tuesday as Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) rolled out plans for the establishment of online asset declaration system
Speaking during the ‘Stakeholder Validation workshop for Asset liabilities Declaration System’ in Abuja, CCB Chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Usman Bello, assured that the digital system designed by NASENI is effective, secure and sustainable.
He said: “We heard the real challenges of the current system. The manual system and then the online asset declaration system that we started developing before. We heard about the real challenges. Everybody knows about how the manual system is not efficient, is not effective.
“I will also discuss the issue of the security for the system that we are developing before. We also saw a compelling vision of the new assets and liability declaration system by our team from NASENI. NASENI is a government agency that is developing this system for us. And by the way, NASENI has also been tasked with developing the DSHEL system for Federal Exile Council.
“So they are very efficient and effective organizations that are doing this for the CCB. We had a frank discussion during our valuable breakout session where we discussed usability, security and sustainability. It was a very, very important discussion yesterday. And I thank you very much for your passion and patriotism.
He said: “The big question that we have today is to answer one question. The question is, will Nigeria finally have a world-class corruption-resistant asset system that helps both the public servants and the Nigerian people? So that is the question that we need to answer today. And my answer, and I believe your answer as well, is a resounding yes.
“We want to have a system where we have a world-class corruption-resistant asset declaration system that serves both the public and the Nigerian people. The old story must end. For too long, asset declaration has been seen as a devoted ritual where people will just come and kill for us. It is forgotten. Where the form once was collected is rarely analyzed. Where it is rarely used as a powerful anti-corruption tool, it was meant to be.
“Even though since I was in office, we tried to change the story. We have created a unit called Forensic Accounting Unit here in CCB where we analyze some of public servants. Where we verify asset declaration of public servants. But the story has to change. This has to change. And this new system of assets and liability declaration system is here to change that narrative.
“It is no more a bureaucratic ritual. It is no more a horrid system. It is a system that will change how we declare our assets and how we are held accountable for our deeds. This system belongs to you. No technology succeeds without the trust and ownership of its users. And that’s why these two days have been designed around you, the stakeholders.
“Your voice will shape the final assets and liability declaration system. Everything is centered around the stakeholders. You want to find out your input, your feedback, and then your suggestions.”
In the bid to ensure successful integration of the new system across all the MDAs, Dr. Bello unveiled the Bureau’s plans to collaborate with various Stakeholders including Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Banks, Land Registry, EFCC, ICPC, and NFIU, among others.
“If you mention about your income, we’ll be able to integrate with FIRS to find out your real income. So, this is one of the key things about the system. We are trying to integrate it with all the databases available so that we’ll be able to do a real-time discrepancy flagging.
“BVN, how many bank accounts do you have? So those are the things that we are going to do with the new system. This is a very powerful system. This is a very powerful tool for CCB, but also for other social agencies, EFCC, ICPC, and NFIU, and so many other organizations that want to use it.”
He also assured that the Bureau is working with the National Assembly with a view to provide the guidelines for the Bureau on how to go about publishing the asset declaration of public servants, without compromising security and privacy issues.
On his part, Chairman, Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct & Public Petitions, Senator Neda Imasuen applauded the success recorded by the Bureau under the leadership of Dr. Bello.
He said: “The progress report of how well this agency has performed. What this agency is doing. And I can tell you that on a scale of 0 to 10, you are pushing 10 already. And I am very grateful that you are making all of us very proud. Especially in this time and what is happening today in our country.
“It’s not the best of times. And so for agencies like CCB, Code of Conduct Bureau, stepping up the game. In the right direction. Then we have reasons to hope that we will eventually be where we are supposed to be as a nation.
“The Code of Conduct Bureau is a very, very vital agency or bureau of the Federal Government. I say so because it is the front line in terminating most of the ills that we witness today. What happens is that when something bad starts happening, and we do not stop it right there and then, it begins to grow roots deep enough that to uproot becomes a problem.
“And I believe that is what has been happening. A lot of things have been happening, bad things incrementally have been happening. And it appears that we have closed our eyes to those things. And so as they freshen up, they begin to grow roots to the point that they are almost consuming all of us. And so at this point in time with CCB coming on board, doing what it’s supposed to do, and rightly so.
“I believe that some of these ills can be addressed. And those new ones coming up can be stopped in their tracks so that we can begin to have a country all of us deserve and all of us want to have. In other countries, agencies like CCB play a very vital and frontline role in fighting corruption.
“Corruption, as we all know, is something that if we have a better word, we view something better than cancer. Such cancerous, it’s such a cancerous thing that once it enters into the system, it becomes very corrosive and deadly. And we tend to describe corruption only as when somebody is caught stealing money but we also don’t realize that our conduct can also be corrosive and corrupt and at the end of the day it also leads to some of the bad things that happen to us today in all sets of life.”
Despite the paucity of funds faced by the country, he disclosed that the Committee is “still pushing the National Assembly to make sure that CCB, PCC, ICPC, and all these other agencies that ought to be funded fully, should be funded so that they can have enough resources to do this critical assignment that we have given to them.”
In his intervention, Lead Director At Centre For Social Justice (CSJ), Eze Onyekpere, advocated that CCB, office of the Auditor General for the Federation and other anti-corruption agencies should be included into the first-line statutory transfer, as applicable to NASENI.
He said: “we are discussing of having a mandate to receive and possibly verify assets declarations from the President of the Federal Republic to the cleaner in the local government. Now, not all jurisdictions in the world ask everybody to declare their assets. Because if you look at the Nigerian example, if everybody from the cleaner to the teacher to the doctor, workers, everything for government should declare its assets up to the politicians, we’ll be talking of not less than 5 million declarations. It may even be more. And if you want an agency to be in charge of 5 million declarations, you must make financial provisions for that agency.”
Also speaking, Controller of Corrections, Mr. Babafemi Jayeoba who pledged the support of the Nigerian Correctional Service towards effective implementation of the
In its presentation, Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) advocated that CCB should establish its presence across the 774 Local Government Areas across the country.
Read Also:Â CCB Chairman Reveals Monitoring of Government’s Palliative Disbursement Across Nigeria
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